"Fact is that the whole Catholic contraception thinggy is built
upon the old testament story of Onan and the wasted sperms."

Sorry to interrupt, but Onan was not killed for wasting sperms - he was killed for contempt and betrayal of his brother Er.

Unlike the Sabbath for example, no commandment was attached to the event. This is because the commandment to redeam one's brother's widow is already mentioned elsewhere.

According to the bible, wasting sperms, while less than perfect is not a serious offense: one who touches sperm must wait until the next evening, then wash before they can go into the temple again.

Ah Yuyutsu, you clearly haven't read the "infallible truth" from
Mishka's catholic website!

But the quote below is what I loved best, which is from the
Apostolic tradition it seems:

*Wherefore, if any one on any account of poverty shall be unable to bring up children, it is better to abstain from relations with his wife" (Divine Institutes 6:20).*

In other words, if our dollar a day Manilla couple, living
in a humpy on the rubbish tip, want a bit of comfort from
each other, well thats just too bad, they can't afford the risk.
Meantime wealthier Catholics can shag away with relative impunity
it seems.

This from an organisation which claims to be compassionate!

Dear Yabby,

I already apologized for jumping in - I can read my bible, but I am not a Christian, how much less so a Catholic and how much less so an expert on Catholicism.

In my humble opinion, I believe that what the church-founders meant by "it is better to abstain" is that a superior man would abstain from sex. A superior man would only want God rather than sensual gratification, which is very true. But is the opposite also true? Can a person become superior by willfully (but resentfully) avoiding sensual gratification? I don't think so. It is best to acknowledge that you are not the best.

A small willful step, inspired by the love of God, can eventually make you superior by His grace, but if resentment creeps in, then you should know that you have gone too far too fast, that you tried to run a marathon before learning to walk.

Yabby, perhaps if you hadn't given up on the Church when you were 8 you'd know that you're making a mountain out of a molehill. The Church doesn't even enforce its dogma about contraception on Catholics, let alone non-Catholics. It's not like the Church has set up contraception cameras at chemists to see who's breaking the rules. Speaking of which, even if the 98% stat were true (and I don't think it is), so what?! I'm sure 98% of drivers have broken the speed limit at some point and most probably still do regularly - should we abolish speed limits? Anyway, why don't you just let Catholics decide for themselves (as you have done). If they think they've done something wrong, then they can go to Confession. (That's something I think you may have forgotten - while the Church is very clear on matters of dogma, it leaves it up to each person to examine to examine their conscience and decide what to confess. How many male Catholics make it to Heaven isn't for you or me or even the Pope to know....) And if they don't subscribe to the Catholic creed even in principle then they can leave as you have done... and change their mind at any time should they wish. As for your hypothetical Filipino couple, is it really so dreadful to expect them to abstain for two or three days a month? Not nearly so bad a deal as for those who aren't married and who are expected to abstain all the time, methinks. There are much worse things than going without sex for 3 days, and (as Yuyutsu has so thoughtfully observed) a person may derive benefit from such a practice. Furthermore, the Church and Catholics has as much right as non-Catholics to participate in the democratic process. I agree there are problems with democracy, but don't project them onto Catholicism which, as I've happily admitted, is not a democracy. Let's not go over old ground. You can reread the 180 comments on my previous article if you want to do that: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12960&page=0

Re the so called infallibility of the pope, you know that chap who wears clown costumes, why not check out The Criminal History of the Papacy by Tony Bushby.

Remember too that both the previous and current popes deliberately engineeered the takeover of the church by opus dei and similar right-wing reactionary "traditionalist" groups.

Re the systematic horribleness of opus dei check out

http://www.odan.org/corporal_mortification.htm

Would and sane person let their children be "educated" by these people.

Mishka Gora,

Two of my very good friends are church attending Catholics - an older couple with eleven grown-up children with families of their own. All these "children" were educated in the Catholic system and attended church during their youth. None of them regularly attend mass these days. They are a close family and it would seem from my regular observation that they would still consider themselves Catholic as part of their identity, yet none of them usually enters a church except to baptise their children or in connection with a Catholic school activity (the church usually fills up periodically when Catholic schools require attendance at church - it then drops off to only the regulars until the next school-induced attendance) - and the baptism is more to ensure that their offspring have an easy slide into a Catholic school. I would say, judging by the size of their respective families, that they all practice contraception. I don't think any of them consider that they have formally "left" the church even though they appear to reject its dogma.
I once asked my church-attending friend about confession. He gave me a wry smile and muttered something to the effect that it was something that you could request, but most of his fellow church-attendees didn't bother with it anymore.